Toronto grounds Houston
Contest was home finale for Jays’ manager Gibbons
TORONTO—John Gibbons said he wasn’t going to cry, but the veteran manager struggled to contain his emotions in his final home game with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays gave Gibbons a winning home send-off Wednesday with a 3-1 win over the Houston Astros.
Before the game, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins announced that Gibbons will not return next season. The 56-year-old Gibbons has one season left on a two-year contract extension he received in April 2017.
“We are going to have a new voice. We are going to have a new approach,” Atkins said.
After getting the final out, Blue Jays closer Ken Giles gave the ball to Gibbons and the Rogers Centre crowd of 22,828 rose for a standing ovation.
“I’ve been here a long time,” said Gibbons, who first joined the Jays in 2002. “I’ve had some great times and I’ve had some tough times. It’s sad in a way, but it brought back a lot of good memories.
I never cry, I’m not going to cry, my lip might shake a little bit.”
Gibbons was in the midst of a postgame interview on the field when outfielder Kevin Pillar came out and doused his manager with a cooler.
Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer and rookie Reese McGuire added a solo shot as the Blue Jays won with only three hits.Atkins said Gibbons can decide whether to take a new role in the organization. Gibbons didn’t rule that out, but also said he’d like to manage in the big leagues again.
“These jobs are hard to come by,” Gibbons said. “But we’ll see. It’s not going to destroy me if I don’t. But time is on my side, age-wise, I think. I’d like to try it again.”
Gibbons is 791-787 in 11 seasons during two stints managing Toronto, his 1,578 games second only to Cito Gaston’s 1,764. Gibbons also trails Gaston (913) in career wins with Toronto.
Gibbons feared me might lose his job when former GM Alex Anthoplouos left the Blue Jays at the end of 2015 and Mark Shapiro became president, bringing Atkins on as GM.
Grichuk connected off righthander Chris Devenski in the first, his career-best 25th home run. McGuire led off the fifth with a blast to right, the first of his big league career.
Joe Biagini (4-7) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win and Giles, the seventh Toronto pitcher of the game, needed just five pitches to wrap it up in the ninth, earning his 25th save in 25 opportunities.
Devenski (2-3) allowed two runs and one hit in two innings.
Atkins said he will discuss the future of Toronto’s coaches this the weekend as the Blue Jays finish the season with three games at Tampa Bay.
A first-round draft pick by the New York Mets in 1980, Gibbons hit .220 with one home run and two RBIs in 18 career games as a catcher, eight of them in New York’s World Series-winning season in 1986. He became a minor league instructor in 1991 and got his first managerial job with the Mets’ Appalachian League team in 1995.
Gibbons is the second big league manager to lose his job this month. Texas fired Jeff Banister last Friday.